"Where did I put my phone...?" is a daily occurrence for me. I'm a klutz who often forgets where I put things, perhaps because my brain capacity is smaller than average.

Early in the New Year, I made a huge mistake: losing my deceased beloved cat's ashes ring somewhere in the house. This incident taught me just how much comfort that ring brings me.

My beloved cat's "ashes ring" is missing from my left ring finger...!

One evening, as the peaceful New Year's atmosphere gradually subsided, I noticed something strange when I looked at my hand as I was about to go to sleep. Huh...? My beloved cat's ashes ring isn't on my left ring finger...

The ring contains a bone from my late beloved cat Jiji, and its design is full of Jiji's charm. It fit my finger so perfectly that I hardly felt it was there.

Since I'm usually forgetful, I only take off my ring when I take a bath or do my skincare. Afterwards, I made it a habit to put it back on as soon as possible.

So, when I realized the ring was missing, I was relatively calm. I had a good idea of where it might be.

Well, I thought, I'll go get Jiji. I was lying in bed, about to go to sleep, but slowly made my way to the place I thought it would be.

However, things took an unexpected turn... The ring wasn't in the spot I'd pinpointed. "This is terrible... I messed up..." I panicked. I looked under the refrigerator and in the gaps in the furniture, searching for the ring.

Where could Jiji be? If he's in a cold, dirty, or dark place, I have to rescue him quickly...! My anxiety grew, and I searched every corner of the room, but couldn't find the ring. I searched until dawn, but still no ring.

Since I had work the next day, I went to bed, feeling self-loathing and unsettled. But the ring wouldn't leave my mind... I dreamed of Jiji, and I dreamed of finding the ring, only to wake up and realize it wasn't real, leaving me depressed. I spent a painful night.

Searching for the ring with a "metal detector app" on my phone!

After waking up, I moved the refrigerator, which seemed like the most suspicious spot, and checked underneath to see if it had rolled in. Unfortunately, all I found were the remnants of toys that the cats had probably played with. The only surprise was finding an unfamiliar USB drive.

I worried that I might have accidentally thrown it in the trash. I took out each piece of garbage one by one and searched, but couldn't find the ring. I thought it might have fallen into the cat litter box and been scooped up, so I dissected my cats' poop.

My beloved cats were watching my every move from behind, looking as if to say, "That's an invasion of privacy."

I searched everywhere I could think of, but the ring was nowhere to be found... However, I couldn't give up, so I installed a metal detector app on my phone. The app was designed to react to metal when I moved my phone.

I put my work aside and walked around the room with my phone in hand. I thoroughly searched the areas where the app buzzed.

However, all that came out was a "crumpled aluminum foil ball" that I had used as a toy for my beloved cat. I was surprised that it had been hidden there, but the free metal detector app wasn't very helpful.

Enlisting the cats' help in the great ring search!

After realizing the limits of the metal detector app, I next enlisted the help of my cats. Perhaps, when I briefly looked away, my beloved cats had played with the ring I had set down. If so, I needed to study how they played and how the ring might have rolled.

With that in mind, I placed a cheap ring where I usually set my ring and observed my cats' behavior.

Then, while my cats did knock the ring down, they didn't show much interest after it fell. Given this reaction, it seemed unlikely that the cats had played with the ring and it had gotten into a crevice somewhere. Feeling that way, I temporarily stopped the experiment. I opened the drawer in the washroom to change out of my sweat-soaked clothes.

Then, something unexpected happened... As I reached for an undershirt, my beloved cat's ashes ring emerged from underneath it. What?! How did it get here?! How did it get into the drawer?! I was shocked and reviewed my actions from that day over and over, but to this day, it's still a mystery how it ended up in the drawer.

Thinking it was Jiji's magic... that's probably too fantastical. I tell myself that it was probably a sequence of events: I placed the ring on top of the drawer before bathing → after bathing, I opened the drawer to get clothes, etc. → the ring accidentally fell into the drawer.

By the way, it goes without saying that after I found the ring, I presented treats to my cats, saying, "I'm so sorry for doubting you!!!"

Understanding the "weight of the ashes ring" after losing it

Losing such a precious ashes ring inside the house itself is something that should never happen... However, through this commotion, I learned something. It was the fact that the ashes ring was a greater emotional support for me than I had realized.

When I lost the ashes ring, I explained the situation to my husband, and he said, "It's expensive, so I hope we find it." But when I heard those words, what welled up in me was the feeling that "it's not about the price."

It was something I had decided to wear for life, so it certainly cost a considerable amount. But I didn't want to find it because it was expensive; I wanted to find it quickly because the thought of even one piece of Jiji's ashes being incomplete was painful.

You might think, "What is this person who lost the ring even talking about?", but I didn't want there to be even one bone feeling lonely somewhere. I hated the thought of Jiji not being by my side.

Perhaps that's why, when the ashes ring was found, I cried like a baby. What were these tears? I didn't know what kind of tears they were... and while surprised by my own tears, I cried like a child.

Because I have the ashes ring, I can go out thinking "I'm going out with Jiji," and I can live—that's what I strongly felt, and I realized how much of a pillar of support the ashes ring is for me.

The wound of pet loss will never heal, but if I have something nearby that reminds me of my beloved cat's existence, I can live on, even while carrying the pain. This whole ring incident taught me that lesson.

Jiji, I'm truly sorry. Whether you're angry or not, you're always welcome to appear in my dreams.

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